Looking back on Seattle's streetcar history

A transport that once ruled city streets is coming back

"In September 1884, Washington Territory's first streetcar line opened in Seattle. By the end of the year, the line had three miles of track and four streetcars which were operated by a total of 10 men and 20 horses. One branch ran out to Lake Union, and the other ran to Front Street (First Avenue) and on to Queen Anne Hill. The horses that pulled the cars were stabled at the corner of Second Avenue and Pike Street. This photo was taken on the September 1884 opening day of the Seattle Street Railway. Mayor John Leary and invited guests are seated in the horse-drawn streetcar at the intersection of Mill Street (Yesler Way) and Second Avenue. The tracks run through the dirt streets. Two Chinese pedestrians look on from the wooden sidewalk (right)." -MOHAI. Photo courtesy MOHAI, Theodore E. Peiser photo, Seattle Historical Society Collection, image number shs898. less

"In September 1884, Washington Territory's first streetcar line opened in Seattle. By the end of the year, the line had three miles of track and four streetcars which were operated by a total of 10 men and 20 ... more

Photo: Courtesy MOHAI

Photo: Courtesy MOHAI

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"In September 1884, Washington Territory's first streetcar line opened in Seattle. By the end of the year, the line had three miles of track and four streetcars which were operated by a total of 10 men and 20 horses. One branch ran out to Lake Union, and the other ran to Front Street (First Avenue) and on to Queen Anne Hill. The horses that pulled the cars were stabled at the corner of Second Avenue and Pike Street. This photo was taken on the September 1884 opening day of the Seattle Street Railway. Mayor John Leary and invited guests are seated in the horse-drawn streetcar at the intersection of Mill Street (Yesler Way) and Second Avenue. The tracks run through the dirt streets. Two Chinese pedestrians look on from the wooden sidewalk (right)." -MOHAI. Photo courtesy MOHAI, Theodore E. Peiser photo, Seattle Historical Society Collection, image number shs898. less

"In September 1884, Washington Territory's first streetcar line opened in Seattle. By the end of the year, the line had three miles of track and four streetcars which were operated by a total of 10 men and 20 ... more

Photo: Courtesy MOHAI

Looking back on Seattle's streetcar history

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It's been 132 years since the first streetcars graced Seattle streets.

Pulled by horses and driven by men, the four streetcars running on three miles of track by the end of 1884 proved to be a big hit with Seattleites.

For a nickel, you could hop a streetcar along Second Avenue on that early Seattle Street Railway, operated by entrepreneur Frank Osgood.

In 1889, Osgood started the first electric streetcars in the city, and within eight years, the city boasted 48 miles of electric track and 22 miles of cable railway.

Today, Seattle is once again embracing the streetcar as a means of public transit, with the First Hill line opening last Saturday, and the South Lake Union line now several years into its run. Eventually, a connection will extend down First Avenue and farther up Capitol Hill.

But in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Seattle had a love for the streetcar that went far beyond anything people know today.

When Osgood retired his horse-drawn "hayburners" in 1889, the city's new electric railway was the first on the West Coast.

Two years earlier, the first cable cars began operation, on Sept. 28, 1887, with service between Pioneer Square and Leschi Park under the auspices of the Lake Washington Cable Railway.

To boast another milestone for the city, the 1896 expansion of the Seattle and Rainier Beach trolley to Renton -- a 12-mile route later called the Seattle, Renton and Southern Railway -- made that the longest electric rail line in the world at the time.

At the same time, the mileage of track in the city continued to grow, doubling the 1892 mileage by 1900.

That same year, after buying up the many independent rail companies around the city, national utility Stone and Webster signed a 40-year franchise agreement with Seattle to operate the entire system.

But a mandated nickel fare would prove too costly to keep the company profitable and the Seattle Electric Railway Company was sold to the city in 1918.

The many lines that made up that municipal rail system connected neighborhoods all over Seattle, from Pioneer Square to Ballard to Wallingford to the University District.

The Seattle, Renton and Southern Railway connected communities to the south as far as Renton, and then another electric rail line, the high-speed Puget Sound Electric Railroad, brought passengers and their goods to and from Tacoma, starting in 1902.

That line ended service in 1928 as cars began to win out in popularity.

Seattle ran its municipal streetcar system until 1940, when the city ended service, also due to the popularity of the automobile, and began tearing up the tracks to make the streets smoother for cars.

Since then, the city has seen streetcar service rebound only in small pockets, with the waterfront trolley (begun in 1982, but now defunct) and the more recent city streetcars (and let's not forget the South Lake Union Trolley).

While the heyday of streetcars seems to have passed, the sleek new cars in the city seem to be a part of a new age of mass transit -- perhaps one that will be its own heyday.